Saturday (09/26/2015)

We left from Florence in the middle of the day with our rental car and we decided to spend the afternoon in Lucca, the city where Celo's great-grandmother was born. Of all the cities we wanted to visit in Tuscany, this was the most out of the way, with our hotel as our base (marked in blue on the map below), so we ended up visiting it on the first day and then touring the other cities without having to travel too much.

Read about our stay in Florence here.

Arriving in Lucca

We followed the instructions in our guide book and parked the car in a parking lot outside the wall, very close to one of the gates that give access to the city. For those who don't know, the tourist part of the city (old town) It is surrounded by a 16th century wall, which is about 12 meters high and 4 km long.. It's very interesting!

Having lunch in Lucca

We were hungry and went straight to the main square of the city, Piazza Amphitheater, because we knew we would find tourist restaurants open (it was already mid-afternoon). We chose the Pizzeria La Grotta, with good reviews, and we sat outside to have a more pleasant experience. We recommend the typical Lucca pasta (I don't remember the name on the menu)…it was delicious!

Detail of this square: the houses around it were built with stones recovered from an amphitheater that existed there.

Exploring Lucca

We started walking around the city and I found everything so lovely! How peaceful 🙂

We walked through Via Fillungo, which is the city's main pedestrian street, with many shops, ice cream shops and coffee shops. We passed in front of the From Simo Café (it was closed), which was frequented by intellectuals and artists, as the most famous of all the city's residents,  Giacomo Puccini.

A little further on this street is the Tower of Ore, which is a clock tower built in 1490, with about 200 wooden steps. We paid 4 euros per person to go up, and we thought the view was worth it! Check it out:

San Martino Cathedral

We kept walking and paid 2 euros each to enter the San Martino Cathedral, which is the city's cathedral, from 1063, with a Romanesque façade and Gothic interior. Detail of the arch on the right, which is a different size to the other two…

San Michele in Foro

We entered the San Michele in Foro, which is a church with an interesting façade, with Romanesque and Gothic marble columns at the same time.

We continue to the Giacomo Puccini Birthplace Museum and to our surprise, there was a very chic fashion and opera event taking place. We spent a few minutes there listening to the beautiful repertoire and observing the unconventional outfits…

We left the walk along the wall for the end of the day and it was a really cool walk. There is a park on top of the wall where people ride their bikes, run, take their dogs, and do picnic, etc, etc. What a lovely place! Don't forget to take a walk around there.

When it started to get dark, we got back in the car and hit the road towards our house in Montaione, the Bertini Falls. 

The next day, we went to meet San Gimignano and Volterra!

Read more about our stay in Tuscany and a summary of our trip there by clicking on this post.

Want to know more about THIS TRIP? See the posts below:

• Italy – Rome, Tuscany, Bologna and Cinque Terre (14 days -SUMMARY)
• Italy – Rome and Vatican (4 days)
• Italy – Bologna (1 day)
• Italy – Tuscany – Summary (4 days)
• Italy – Tuscany – San Gimignano and Volterra (1 day)
• Italy – Tuscany – Florence (2 days)
• Italy – Tuscany – Lucca (1 day)
• Italy – Tuscany – Monteriggioni and Siena (1 day)
• Italy – Tuscany – Montepulciano and Cortona (1 day)
• Italy – Tuscany – Pisa (1 day)
• Italy – Cinque Terre (2 days)

If you want to know more about our other trips around Italy, see below:

• Italy – Rome, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Pompeii and Caserta (10 days – SUMMARY)
• Italy – Caserta and Pompeii (1 day)
• Italy – Amalfi Coast (3 days)
• Italy – Capri and Anacapri (3 days)
• Italy – Rome and Vatican (2 days)